Everyone has a different perspective- a different outlook on life. How we all choose to interpret the world we share depends on what lens we use. Our attitudes, choices, and actions are all affected by the angle and way we look out of our own lenses. My lifelooklens varies. One lens stays true to capture all the things in my world. I take pictures of EVERYTHING. I'm glad I do and don't mind if some think my pictures and ramblings are boring. This blog is a glimpse at life through my lens...

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Cades Cove

-->

This past
weekend, my husband and I went to Cades Cove for the first time. We’d planned a
trip to Gatlinburg with my dad’s side of the family and, on this day, our
little caravan of Cannon cars puttered along on a one-way road that looped
around the entire park. Josh and I listened as our travel tour guides, Renee and
Kim, told us their tales of past bear-sightings that had occurred during their last
trip around the track. Squinting my eyes, I hoped to catch sight of some rarely
seen wildlife as I leaned out of a backseat window to get a better view. After
missing a narrow window of opportunity to park next to the only restroom
available for miles, we stopped our car to park at the next available pull-off
spot. We’d all seen the sign that signaled park entrance bathroom location,
though our one-way-road had been unforgiving of our late sign-recognition
skills. Once parked, we hopped out of our car and became silent. The view that
met our eyes was now breathtaking and the four of us stood in awe of a majestic
mountainous scene. As the rest of our brigade exited their car, Kim handed me
her camera. “Really? I mean, are you sure you don’t want to use it?” My
questioning of Kim’s generosity was met without delay. “Yeah, I’m sure. It’s
set to automatic now and you just adjust like this…” She grasped the most
gorgeous camera I’d ever seen to demonstrate its zoom features and lens
adjustments, in such an effortless, graceful manner that I doubted my own
ability to replicate her recently performed steps of 'easy' camera operation. I
felt as though I’d just been given a gold medal at the frickin' Olympics when I
draped the holding strap over my head to feel its cool leather against my skin…That
camera is INCREDIBLE…overwhelming, wonderful…PERFECT. Kim, you’re the best. I
owe you. Readers, don’t worry- my camera admiration/obsession ends here. This
post is entitled Cades Cove, and Cades Cove you shall see…

-->

This map is
helpful for new visitors. However, this cartographic creation was absent from
my possession during my first visit to the Cove… Therefore, its potential for usefulness
has not been personally experienced so I now deem it useless. Kim and I could
have really used this map when we stopped at a random site and proceeded to
hypothesize our exact park location. Miles away from our lost little duo, the
rest of our clan had decided they’d walk for a few miles to be picked up by Kim
& Regina’s Taxi Services at Carter Cabin and they now trudged along in summer’s
heat. Our misplaced chauffeurs had willingly obliged to this family request, as
Regina had not worn appropriate footwear that would have been suitable for such
a strenuous on-foot undertaking. Renee had warned these two drivers that they’d
need to be observant of all signs posted along their way, in order to ensure
their arrival to the designated pick-up location. “Yeah, yeah…we will,” said
the drivers, as they’d entered their cars to enjoy mankind’s genius invention,
known as air-conditioning. After cooling themselves in luxurious breezes that
had been withheld from our pedestrians, the pair finally arrived at a cabin…but
which one? “Hey, I didn’t see a sign, did you?,” Kim asked her accomplice.
“Uhhh…well, I saw one a few miles back but don’t remember exactly what it
said.” My answer was more unhelpful than this map- which I found one day after
I’d arrived home in Nashville, TN. We hadn’t stopped at the decided cabin in
which we’d been instructed to pick up our loved ones. Luckily, we hadn’t passed
it either as we had previously done when we’d zipped by the rarity of a park
restroom. Our weary nomadic relatives arrived presently and their gratefulness
for our miscalculation of pedestrian pick-up spot was unspoken. Taxi drivers,
Regina and Kim, decided to distribute water among the newly-arrived and
exhausted customers, who decided to ride in an air-conditioned automobile for
the remainder of the walk that they did not take. One may ask, ‘What’s the
point of this story?’ The POINT, my dear friends, is that maps may be
reassuring for some visitors of Cades Cove. On the contrary- and perhaps more
importantly- they may also contribute to a disastrous experience. You see, if
Kim and I had utilized this map, things would have happened much differently.
Dehydration of our loved ones, for example…deprivation of water, blisters on
the tootsies…the list goes on… Because I had no map, my location was unknown to
anyone but Kim and a few abandoned cabins. Luckily, no mishaps occurred from
that cliché beginning of a horror story. No location, no blisters, no
exhaustion, no heat strokes suffered by our silly family members who still think
walking is cool…all because we arrived at the wrong place. Maps are optional…and they may even be detrimental. :)

-->

Map or no
map, you’ll like where you hap’

…(-pen to end up, that is…)

-->

I couldn’t
refrain from repeatedly glancing backwards as I walked down a golden-brown dirt
path, towards our first cabin at the Cove.

-->

I arrived at my dirt path's end and stood in front of John Oliver’s cabin. I’ll admit, I didn’t know much about the history of Mr.
Oliver…nor of his cabin in the Cove. For my fellow friends who share my initial
ignorance, you can copy my homework by clicking on this link:

Click it, or don't...but knowledge is power, right? Besides, the story is interesting and I prefer active learning/in-person sightings of historical landmarks.

-->

Meet
Pawpaw…some of you may know him from previous posts. The rest of you are one
sorry bunch of sillies that probably didn’t click that link about John Oliver’s
cabin. WHY...so....serious?? Anyway, this is my granddad. He’s standing in front of J.O.’s
(because we’re cool like that) cabin. This picture may not mean anything to you,
but you’d feel as I do if he was your ‘Paw-paw’. I sneaked (because my high school English teacher, Mrs. Cooper,
says ‘snuck’ isn’t a word) several pictures of my dad’s dad as we strolled
through Cades Cove.

I love this one because he doesn’t know I took it. My
favorite photos are of people in their most candid, natural state…unless it’s
me- then candids are awful! This one says more than 1,000 words because I
feel more feelings than the majority of my pictures ever provoke. Pawpaw’s
child-like wonder and curiosity is captured here, even though you can’t see it
on his face. He marveled at all historical sights we visited on this trip and I
always wondered what he was thinking. Maybe next time, I should ask…Then again,
I’ll probably just take another picture to cherish forever of my grandfather. I
don’t get to see him enough lately and his hugs always warm my heart.

-->

"I believe that there
is a subtle magnetism in Nature, which, if we unconsciously yield to it, will
direct us aright."

– Henry David Thoreau

-->

“Thousands of tired,
nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out going to the
mountains is going home; that wilderness is a necessity...”

- John Muir

-->

“Aren't the clouds
beautiful? They look like big balls of cotton... I could just lie here all day,
and watch them drift by... If you use your imagination, you can see lots of
things in the cloud formations... What do you think you see, Linus?"
"Well, those clouds up there look like the map of the British Honduras on
the Caribbean... That cloud up there looks a little like the profile of Thomas
Eakins, the famous painter and sculptor... And that group of clouds over there
gives me the impression of the stoning of Stephen... I can see the apostle Paul
standing there to one side..."
"Uh huh... That's very good... What do you see in the clouds, Charlie
Brown?"
"Well, I was going to say I saw a ducky and a horsie, but I changed my
mind!”

- Charles M. Schultz,
The Complete Peanuts, Vol.5: 1959-1960

-->

We
continued driving along Cades Cove's eleven-mile loop. With my backseat window
withdrawn into my car door's interior, I inhaled warm, fragrant breezes that
signaled summer's end. Our car's interior had become perfumed with fresh,
grassy scents that my back-home, city-life in Nashville rarely affords. The
smells of a scarcely-populated scene reminded me of my rural hometown, in which I'd
spent seventeen years of my life. Now at Cades Cove Park, while dangling my
upper body outside my window, I caught whiffs of delightful familiarity.

-->

I’d wrapped
Kim’s camera strap around my wrist so tightly that I felt confident in my arm’s
distance from our car’s safer interior. Yet, I still heard a cautioning voice
that no person in our company had spoken…do…not…drop…that…camera. Luckily, the
beauty of our surroundings was sufficient to silence my brain-dwelling-voice’s advisory warnings.

-->

Certain that
my cautionary strap-wrapping-'round-the-wrist-five-times procedure would keep the
loaned camera safe, I reached further and zoomed farther than more responsible
borrowers of equipment would risk. I must say, these pictures were worth it! Oh, what a little daredevil I am! :)

I couldn’t
help but wonder why I’d never been here before, as my compulsively twitchy
trigger finger involuntarily and persistently pressed down a button that would
capture beautiful memories. I’d heard about Cades Cove, though actually
experiencing its beauty was unexpectedly wonderful!

-->

"A
woman's dress should be like a barbed-wire fence: serving its purpose without
obstructing the view."

- Sophia Loren

-->

“I
like to take pictures of lots of things: people-such as my nephews, my dogs,
and just interesting objects that I see. For instance, I might take a picture
of flowers by the side of the road, an old sign or a fence.”

- Lacey Chabert

-->

It
is a great satisfaction to find that your oldest convictions are permanent.
With regard to essentials, I have never had occasion to change my mind. The
aspect of the world varies from year to year, as the landscape is differently
clothed, but I find that the truth is still true, and I never regret any
emphasis which it may have inspired. Ktaadn is there still, but much more
surely my old conviction is there, resting with more than mountain breadth and
weight on the world, the source still of fertilizing streams, and affording
glorious views from its summit, if I can get up to it again. As the mountains
still stand on the plain, and far more unchangeable and permanent,--stand still
grouped around, farther or nearer to my maturer eye, the ideas which I have
entertained,--the everlasting teats from which we draw our nourishment.

-->
Come live with me and be my love, And we will
all the pleasures prove, That valleys, groves, hills, and fields, Woods, or
steepy mountain yields.
- Christopher Marlowe

-->

Blue is the male
principle, stern and spiritual. Yellow the female principle, gentle, cheerful
and sensual. Red is matter, brutal and heavy and always the color which must
be fought and vanquished by the other two.

- Franz Marc

-->

Okay, I’m not one to brag…BUT…(yeah, that ‘but’ foreshadows that…)
I’m about to brag. Then again, I’m feeling a bit critical and uncertain since I’ve
set myself up for photographic scrutiny. Allow me to re-phrase…I do not
normally feel as though my photos reflect the majesty of things I see. However,
I feel confident that this photo does best depict an overwhelmingly gorgeous
showing of various aspects of nature, to include: land, sky, cloud, mountain,
valley, seasons, plants, and…just a LOT, OKAY?? As a mundanely modest, amateur
photographer and secretively-aspiring writer, permit me my moment of glory,
please. These are the facts: me + camera = picture. Picture (location + timing)
= quality. Therefore,

This horse
helped demonstrate molasses-making at Cades Cove when we visited the mill.
Learn more about cane mills at:

http://www.mysmokymountainvacation.com/molasses.html

-->

Historically, sorghum
cane was a common crop in the Smokies. It was generally planted in the late
spring or early summer and harvested in the fall. After the cane was cut, it
was fed through a mule- or horse-powered mill to extract the juice. The juice
was then cooked for several hours in a large kettle until it thickened into
sorghum molasses. Source listed at link above!

My horse at Cades Cove lead me on an internet-searching tangent, in hopes of finding more information about cane mills. Don't ask me why- I was just curious. This diversion from my non-detailed blogging of travel adventure was as unexpected for me as it is now for you. Without referencing Wikapedia, I am unable to determine official origin and development of cane mills. Anyone who wishes to pursue this study will receive extra credit for informing me of the history of horse-powered sugar/molasses mills. Poor horsey at Cades Cove...he seemed happy, but I'm glad our technology has improved over time...along with our molasses-making techniques!

We should be
taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates
inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action.

– Frank Tibbit

Our heights
by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, But they,
while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night. - Longfellow

I must
admit, this butterfly gave me some confidence in my picture-taking abilities.
Even with a torn wing, it’s just freakin’ perfect.. Imperfections are too often
criticized by society. In actuality, it’s the little unique quirks that make us
even more beautiful…even when we can’t see it.

-->

Resting upon
an aged wooden portion of Cades Cove Mill, this broken butterfly basked in a
radiant glory, all its own. The old wooden plank that it sat upon had been marked with
purposefully-carved initials that some unknown person must have carved many
years ago. Judging by the depth of this lettering, I determined that one must
have been set on making an impression…leaving something behind…marking where he
or she had been.

W.L.’s marked site was acknowledged by a bright- but torn and broken butterfly, that gently alighted upon these carvings.

Respectfully acknowledging
previously marked and neatly cut lettering, Blue Butterfly traced W.L.’s pattern with her fragile appendages, as if to establish an acceptance of the balance in power and influence between man and nature.